A ship transporting Lebanese and Syrian migrants to Europe departs the port of the northern city of Tripoli on a daily basis, revealed the daily An Nahar on Wednesday.
Sources from the port told the daily that a ship transporting hundreds of Syrians and over 15 Lebanese departs the city to Turkey every day.
The Lebanese are mainly residents of the North.
“This operation has been taking place for the past three-and-a-half-months,” said the sources.
They remarked that the migrants were initially lone youths, but a recent pattern emerged of entire families seeking to leave the country.
Once in Turkey, the migrants make their way to Europe, explained the sources.
Lebanese migrants from the North have exceeded 2,000, while this number tops 4,500 when departures from Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport are included.
An Nahar said that some 1,050 Lebanese have made it safely to Europe.
Last week, a Lebanese family that sought to travel abroad looking for better living conditions lost seven of its members at sea.
Seven members of the Safwan family drowned at sea on board of an inflatable boat that was making its way from Turkey to Greece.
